As reported by Rob Waters at Bloomberg.com, Reijo Pera, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Stanford, near Palo Alto, California, discovered three genes involved in germ-cell creation that are missing or defective in infertile males. For the current research, she and her team engineered a protein that glows green when those genes are present, signifying a germ cell.
Reijo Pera said the technique would allow her to take patients’ own stem cells and make full-fledged sperm cells and, eventually, egg cells, which could be used for in vitro fertilization procedures. Her goal is to use her new methods to study infertility in a laboratory dish and hunt for drugs that could correct it.
“I’m hopeful that in two to five years we’ll be better able to understand and diagnose infertility,” providing some answers to the 30 percent of infertile couples that never find out what went wrong, she said. Click here to read the entire article.
Infertility is a medical condition and deserves a thorough and competent medical evaluation. The professional staff at Reproductive Science Institute of Suburban Philadelphia, P.C. welcomes the opportunity to be a resource to you.
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